Fiche vierge modèle

199484 Commentaires

• xoslotz lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:50

  By David Alire Garcia
  
  MEXICO CITY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Mexico's axolotl salamander
  can almost magically heal itself, holding the power to
  regrow its heart and brain. But there is one feat it may not pull
  off: survive dire threats to the last wild place it calls home.
  
  
  Plagued by polluted water, predatory fish and the steady
  encroachment of one of the world's biggest megacities, the tiny amphibian steeped
  in mythological lore has all but disappeared from its home in the muddy canals of southern Mexico City.
  
  
  Once a mainstay on the banquet tables of Aztec kings, in 1998 there were about 6,000 axolotls per square kilometer in the salamander's main redoubt, the waterways of the city's Xochimilco district, a
  scientific census showed.
  
  By 2004, the population had dropped to 1,000 per sq/km, and to less than 35 per sq/km a decade later.
  
  
  By 2020, there may be none, according to one model.
  
  Undeterred, a group of Mexican biologists have launched
  a rescue mission.
  
  "Without the axolotl, Mexico would lose part of its culture and identity," said Luis Zambrano, an urban biologist at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), who leads the team behind the plan.
  
  He argues that farmers in Xochimilco known as chinamperos, who grow a wide range of produce
  along some 180 kilometers of canals, are crucial
  players in the effort to build new sanctuaries for
  axolotl (pronounced ah-sho-LO-tul) while promoting traditional chinampa agriculture.
  
  
  Chinampas are floating gardens made from dredged-up black mud slathered on reeds and tree branches once used to produce as many as seven harvests a year for staples like corn and chili peppers.
  
  
  They flourished for over a thousand years in the lake that once filled the Valley
  of Mexico, where the Aztec imperial capital and later Mexico City would arise.
  
  
  Today, around 80 percent of the remaining chinampas have been abandoned as farmers
  seek better wages elsewhere.
  
  Over the next decade, Zambrano aims to enroll about half of Xochimilco's chinamperos into an axolotl-friendly organic certification scheme that would allow
  them to charge higher prices for their crops. The university-run certification aims to launch in 2019.
  
  
  
  With a modest budget, his team is creating 20 new sanctuaries with cleaner
  water using filters that also keep out the non-native tilapia
  and carp stalking the canals.
  
  GENETIC ROCK STAR
  
  Modern research into the axolotl began in 1864, after a shipment
  of 34 arrived in Paris from Mexico. Thousands more were then bred as scientists across Europe
  marveled at their strange appearance and ability to breathe with both lungs and gills.
  
  
  Researchers later discovered that axolotls can also absorb oxygen through
  their skin - making them particularly vulnerable to dirty water -
  and regenerate amputated limbs and damaged body tissue,
  creating intense interest in their genes.
  
  Earlier this year, a team of scientists in Germany said they had mapped the
  complete axolotl genome, revealing it to be 10 times longer than the human genome, which gives researchers more scope
  to pinpoint the mechanisms for regeneration.
  
  "You can actually take a primordial piece of the tissue that's going to form its eye and transplant it into the space around the gut and the axolotl will regenerate and form a whole eye there," said Randal Voss, a University of
  Kentucky scientist and director of the world's largest axolotl laboratory.
  
  
  But whether they have a future outside the laboratory will largely depend on whether Xochimilco's
  booming tilapia and carp populations can be controlled.
  
  
  
  The fish were introduced in the 1970s by the government
  as part of a nutrition program. But their taste for axolotl eggs and juveniles
  was not considered.
  
  Industrial-scale fishing earlier this year removed tonnes of
  them from Xochimilco. But the effort has run out of funding.
  
  
  Claudia Sheinbaum, set to take over as Mexico City's
  next mayor in December and herself a scientist, said in a recent interview that
  she wants the capital's water infrastructure overhauled, and the raw sewage that pollutes the Xochimilco canals when heavy rains overwhelm the aging
  pipes to be contained.
  
  POP CULTURE APPEAL
  
  Its future hanging in the balance, the axolotl
  has for years played an outsized cultural role
  in Mexico and beyond.
  
  In Aztec legend, the desperate rebel god Xolotl transformed himself into an axolotl to
  hide and avoid his own sacrifice at the hands of
  his fellow gods. He was still discovered, captured and killed.
  
  
  Axolotls have appeared in Diego Rivera's murals and Pokemon video games.
  They even helped inspire the look of the main character Toothless in DreamWorks Animation's hit "How to Train Your Dragon" movies.
  
  
  "There's definitely a cuteness that comes through. The way it stands, the way its eyes are, the shape of its mouth," said Simon Otto, head of character animation for the films.
  
  
  The third installment of the series due out in March draws heavily on rare albino axolotls for a
  new character, he said.
  
  A few pinkish-white amphibians wiggle around in aquariums at Horacio Mena's
  axolotl laboratory on the UNAM campus. But most are grey or black, better suited to avoid predators.
  
  
  Some move toward the edge of the glass and even appear to make eye contact with
  approaching visitors.
  
  Mena explained how the new sanctuaries will be stocked over the coming months to give the species a new foothold.
  
  
  "My dream is to see them live freely," he said, "and return to this mythical part of Mexico that is Xochimilco." (Reporting by David Alire Garcia in Mexico City Additional reporting by Frank
  Jack Daniel and Diego Ore in Mexico City Editing by Dave Graham and Matthew Lewis)

  Lien vers le commentaire
• Explore Prostavive Ingredients lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:50

  Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog and I'm impressed!
  Very helpful information specifically the last part :) I care for such info
  much. I was looking for this certain information for a long time.
  Thank you and good luck.

  Lien vers le commentaire
• Carmen lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:49

  15 Best Pinterest Boards To Pin On All Time About Where To
  Get Pallets where to get pallets​ (Carmen)

  Lien vers le commentaire
• http://@akio.sakura.Ne.jp/ghj/scr/scr.cgi lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:44

  I am sure this paragraph has touched all the internet people, its really really good paragraph on building up new website.

  Lien vers le commentaire
• 腳底按摩教學 lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:43

  https://storage.googleapis.com/digi176sa/research/digi176sa-(91).html
  We carry brands that excel in mother of the bride jacket attire, capes and pantsuits, like Alex
  Evenings, R&M Richards and Ignite.

  Lien vers le commentaire
• http://@akio.sakura.Ne.jp/ghj/scr/scr.cgi lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:43

  I am sure this paragraph has touched all the internet people, its really really good paragraph on building up new website. //@akio.sakura.Ne.jp/ghj/scr/scr.cgi">http://@akio.sakura.Ne.jp/ghj/scr/scr.cgi

  Lien vers le commentaire
• Vách ngăn nhà vệ sinh lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:41

  It's not my first time to go to see this website, i am visiting this
  web page dailly and take fastidious facts from here all the time.

  Lien vers le commentaire
• Corinne lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:38

  Pub Crawl 논현오피 (Corinne)

  Lien vers le commentaire
• that site lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:35

  Hi there, after reading this awesome article i am too delighted to share my know-how here with friends.

  Lien vers le commentaire
• pay69 lundi, 20 janvier 2025 02:33

  Swiss vote to impose world's strictest rules on executive pay after public outcry over fat cat bonuses
  
  People in Switzerland have voted for strict controls on executive pay
  
  68 per cent backed plans to veto pay-outs to bosses
  
  Move sparked by anger over the big bonuses blamed for fuelling risky investments
  
  It comes after the EU announced plan to cap bankers' bonuses at a year's pay
  
  By JANINE YAQOOB
  
  Published: 16:43 GMT, 3 March 2013 | Updated: 17:12 GMT, 3 March 2013
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  e-mail
  
  
  157
  
  View
  comments
  
  Swiss citizens have voted to impose some
  of the world's strictest controls on executive pay.
  
  
  Early returns in a referendum revealed 68 per cent backed plans for shareholders
  to veto executive pay and for a ban on big rewards for new and departing managers.
  
  
  The clear majority came as a surprise given fierce
  opposition and intense campaigning by business lobby group Economiesuisse, which warned the proposals will damage the country's competitiveness and scare
  away international talent.
  
  Support for the move was sparked by anger over the big bonuses blamed for fuelling risky investments that nearly felled Swiss bank UBS, as well as outrage over a proposed $78 million payment to outgoing Novartis chairman Daniel Vasella.
  
  
  Claude Longchamp, of pollsters Gfs.Bern, said the public outcry
  last month that forced Novartis to cancel Vasella's 'golden goodbye' helped drive the campaign.
  
  
  
  The Swiss vote for stricter rules on execuitve pay was sparked
  by outrage over a proposed $78 million payment to outgoing
  chairman of drugs company Novartis Daniel Vasella (pictured)
  
  'It emotionalised and it mobilised,' he
  said.
  
  Thomas Minder, the businessman-turned-politician behind the campaign,
  says his proposals are aimed at ending a culture of short-termism
  and rewards for managers of badly-run companies rather than just capping salaries.
  
  
  
  
  
  RELATED ARTICLES
  
  Previous
  
  1
  
  Next
  
  
  
  NHS surgeon who delivered Sam Cam's daughter sued by
  sixty...
  
  
  
  Share this article
  
  Share
  
  Despite threats from some executives, Switzerland is unlikely to
  see an exodus of big companies who have previously been drawn to the country by low taxes,
  stable politics and business-friendly laws.
  
  
  
  And companies will seek ways around the new rules to reward executives, just as banks in Europe are looking to soften the impact of a cap on bonuses
  for top staff agreed by European politicians on Thursday. 
  
  The Swiss vote comes as the European Union tries to push through a proposal which will mean bankers bonuses
  will be capped at a year's pay and a perk of two years' salary could only be paid if a majority
  of shareholders agreed to it.
  
  Downing Street said Prime Minister David Cameron had ‘real concerns' about the plans and warned it must not be allowed to stifle
  Britain's role as a global banking centre.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chancellor George Osborne (left) is expected to argue against the European Union's plans to cap bankers' bonuses at a year's pay.
  Prime Minister David Cameron (right) said he had 'real concerns' about the plans
  
  
  The deal must be signed off by EU governments before coming into force next year but Chancellor
  George Osborne is expected to argue against it at a meeting of European finance ministers next year.
  
  
  Boris Johnson joined the chorus of British opposition, branding the plans 'deluded' and 'self-defeating'.
  
  
  The London Mayor warned it would simply play into the
  hands of the City of London's overseas.
  
  Mr Osborne is expected to try to block the plans, claiming it would prevent City
  firms hiring the best staff, prompting an exodus of top talent to New York.
  
  
  
  The deal must still be signed-off by EU governments before coming into force in 2014 but the UK is struggling to convince other countries it is a bad idea.
  
  
  If Britain loses its showdown with Brussels, it would mean the most draconian clampdown on fat cats' perks since the financial crisis of 2008.
  
  
  Swiss companies accounted for five of the top 10 best-paid chairmen in Europe in 2011, but only the heads of Novartis and Roche made it into the continent's top 10 for chief executives.
  
  
  While anger at multi-million dollar payouts for executives has spread around
  the globe since the financial crisis, the
  Swiss system of direct democracy means populist proposals
  have a greater chance of implementation.
  
  Swiss citizens get to vote on a range of topics in up to four
  national referendums each year.
  
  A few other countries, including the United States and
  Germany, have introduced advisory 'say on pay' votes in response
  to anger over inequality and corporate excess.
  
  
  Britain is also planning to give shareholders a binding vote on pay
  and 'exit payments' at least every three years.
  
  
  
  The near collapse of flagship bank UBS in 2008 stoked anger among Swiss who blamed its
  heavy losses on rewarding bankers to make risky bets
  
  Thomas Minder's initiative in Switzerland forces binding votes on compensation every year as well as
  on board composition and would also ban bonus payments
  to managers if their companies are taken over.
  
  
  The plan also includes possible jail sentences and fines for breaching the new rules.
  
  
  
  While Switzerland has fared relatively well through the financial crisis, the
  near collapse of flagship bank UBS in 2008 stoked anger
  among Swiss who blamed its heavy losses on rewarding bankers to make risky
  bets.
  
  Last year, more than one third of UBS shareholders rejected the bank's plans
  for executive pay - including a 4 million franc signing-on fee for new German chairman Axel Weber - after a sub-par 2011 profit
  and a $2 billion rogue trading scandal.
  
  The centre-left Social Democrats are already pushing for another referendum on even tougher curbs on executive pay - they want to limit the annual compensation of top managers
  to just 12 times that of their lowest-paid worker.

  Lien vers le commentaire